That's a wrap

Positive response brings thoughts of expanded festival next year

Aug. 11, 2013

Cory Chisel (center) and a few of his friends give a performance Sunday at Lawrence University's Memorial Chapel on the final day of the inaugural Mile of Music festival in Appleton. / Ron Page/Post-Crescent Media

Mile of Music coverage

For extensive coverage of the weekend’s events, including show reviews, video interviews, photo galleries, daily notebooks and more, visit postcrescent.com/mileofmusic.

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APPLETON — When plans were unveiled for Mile of Music in May, it was an ambitious undertaking and many wondered whether the Fox Valley would respond.

Boy, did they ever.

“Amazing,” Mile of Music co-founder and Appleton marketing executive Dave Willems said of the four-day festival that took over more than 40 venues in the downtown. “I think probably as well as we could have expected and probably more than Cory (Chisel) expected, I think. He is blown away by the community’s response and he’s excited that people have embraced it so much because it means we’ve got this great future.”

The inaugural event, organized by Willems and the Fox Valley native singer-songwriter Chisel, packed downtown bars, coffee shops, restaurants and other venues with performances from more than 100 acts throughout the weekend.

Patti Coenen, owner of Fox River House, said she expected the weekend to be busy but it exceeded her expectations “beyond belief.”

“The crowds were great and they were very respectful,” she said. “I have talked to several business owners and they all had the same reaction and they were just elated with the success of the weekend.”

Copper Rock Coffee manager Emilee Mortimer, who worked three of the festival’s four days, had a similar reaction.

“It was absolutely insane. ... It’s been amazing,” she said. “We’ve been running out of everything. It’s been way more than expected.”

Those taking in the slate headlined by a Friday performance by Cory Chisel and a Saturday show from Rodney Crowell were not just singing along to the original tunes, but also singing the praises of the first-time event.

A highlight for some likely was the Friday night appearance at the Lawrence Memorial Chapel by multiple Grammy Award-winner Norah Jones. Others may have been just as fond of the dozens of smaller-scale shows that came without an admission fee.

“This was my kind of event. I’m not real big on cover bands. ... I like the scope of original music,” said Bill Tracy, a Neenah resident who purchased a VIP ticket to gain access to all of Mile of Music’s offerings. “If you wanted to see blues, folk, indie, atmospheric, even jazz to some degree, it was there for you.”

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Willems said Sunday that the reactions he’d heard so far from the public were quite positive.

“Lots of thank yous, an awful lot of people just saying that Appleton was ready for this and they think they’ve proven that by showing up they way they did and I think that’s true,” he said.

And from downtown business owners?

“I got three hugs today and about four high-fives,” Willems said. “... That’s probably the most gratifying part of the whole thing is to know that businesses have had tremendous weekends because of it.”

An array of tweets and well-wishes from the musicians — some of which traveled from across the country to join the festivities — indicated that it wasn’t just the fans and the business owners having a blast.

“It was killer,” said Connor Lamue of the Oshkosh band the Midwestern Charm. “They really know how to treat bands well here. ... (The organizers) worked their butts off. You can see the exhaustion and you can see how satisfied they are with the results. They put in the time to do it and everyone is stoked.”

Adding to the positivity for some, proceeds from the fest will go toward a new education fund to benefit music at Appleton public schools and a “Creative Downtown Fund” to generate revenue for downtown projects.

“I thought it was great,” said Kay Tripp of Appleton, who took in a number of shows over the weekend. “A wonderful array of talent for a very good cause and it brought a lot of people to enjoy music.”

Although Willems said he and his crew at Willems Marketing will begin work on next year’s Mile of Music on Wednesday, he’s already circled the second weekend of August 2014. He also said adding a second weekend of events wasn’t out of the question.

“I didn’t sleep at all last night ... which is strange because things were going so well,” he said. “My mind was racing with ideas and thoughts on how we can tweak and make things not just better, but just make things grander.”

He’s not the only one looking ahead. When asked if she was anticipating next year’s festival, Coenen didn’t hesitate.

“Oh, absolutely. I’ll be cutting a check tomorrow for the first donation,” she said.